US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the US a “force for good” in the Middle East. A closer look at the evidence reveals this to be the greatest lie ever told in the era of “fake news.” “The good news is this: The age of self-inflicted American shame is over, and so are the…
Never before has any presidential administration been as all over the place in terms of national security and foreign policy as is that of Donald J. Trump. Indeed, one might well argue that there is no overriding policy at all in terms of a rational doctrine arrived at through risk versus gain analysis of developing…
Sixty-six million years ago, so the scientists tell us, an asteroid slammed into this planet. Landing on what’s now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, it gouged out a crater 150 kilometers wide and put so much soot and sulfur into the atmosphere that it created what was essentially a prolonged “nuclear winter.” During that time, among so…
The top story of 2019 – and the years ahead – will continue to revolve around the myriad, dangerous permutations of the economic ascent of China, the resurgence of nuclear superpower Russia and the decline of the US’s global hegemony. Two years ago, before the onset of the Trump administration, I sketched how the shadow…
“Assad must go, Obama says.” So read the headline in The Washington Post, Aug. 18, 2011. The story quoted President Barack Obama directly: “The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. … the time has come for President Assad to step aside.” France’s Nicolas…
As has been the case for years already, the Mideast experienced a lot of geopolitical dynamism over the past 12 months that will shape the year to come. In any order of significance, the region saw the return of unilaterally imposed US sanctions on Iran; superficial but nevertheless promising progress being made on the Syrian…
